New Directions: O'Connell's & Baek
A new fish bar from O'Connell's Fishmongers and new drinks from Majken
There’s a world going on underground, on Cork’s Patrick Street.
Walk into Dunnes Stores, take the down escalator, and a smorgasbord of good eating awaits you, laid out in a pasture of great produce assembled Eataly-style.
We got there early on a Monday, traditionally the worst day for finding anything good to eat in the city, because we knew that there were only two stools at the O’Connell’s Fishmongers stall.
These stools are not for people buying wet fish: they are for people who want to have that wet fish cooked and served to them whilst they sit at the counter.
This rather radical idea for Patrick Street echoes what is happening around the city, as cooking spaces, eating spaces and shopping spaces blend one into the other. The Black Market and the Marina Market have copied the Eataly/Time Out style of European food courts and markets, offering various food vendors and communal seating, where you can grab a seat and enjoy the food you order from the various chefs.
Out in Bishopstown, you can eat sushi or sausage rolls right in the centre of the supermarket shopping space at Dunnes, or select from the pair of café rooms at the edge of the retail zone. And now, in the city centre, you can do the same, only better.
Picture this - sitting at a fish counter with three Oysterhaven oysters that had just been lifted from their oyster box on the iced counter, then opened right in front of you. Alongside is a satisfying cup of seafood chowder, pleasing in the way that only chowder can be. There is also a box-tray of fish and chips, freshly selected, battered and fried, and which we ordered because the two monger-chefs behind the counter confessed that their batter was the bomb! and contained a dash of whiskey.
All this sitting at the counter of a fish stall.
We could have taken our feast to the seats arranged around the central isles, where we could also have chosen a Four Cork Cheese Platter with Gubbeen Salami and West Cork crackers, or a freshly melted Three-cheese toastie, or a Ham‘n’Cheese toastie with McCarthy’s ham and Hegarty’s cheddar on ABC batch loaf, from the Sheridans Cheesemongers stall.
Next door, the busy Baxter & Greene stall offers everything from hot sandwiches to pizzas to a salad bar and a hot food section, whilst the Sushi Gourmet bar is jam-packed with a flotilla of freshly-made sushi selections.
There is a Cafe Sol dock for coffee, an ABC Bakery bread station, an extensive wholefood section from Nourish, and then the space blends into the retail zone, with a particularly fine wine shop.
There is a whole new world going on underground on Patrick Street, a radical step forward for food eating and retailing. That’s the pair of us sitting on the high chairs at O’Connell’s Fishmongers by the way. Do say hello.
Staples:
Majken Bech-Bailey launches Bæk alcohol-free drinks
The funny thing about Majken Bech-Bailey’s alcohol-free drinks is that they make you behave as if you have been drinking.
You get a starstruck look in your eye when you raise a glass of her concoctions and take a sip. Your vocabulary goes into super-overdrive, and your prose bleeds purple. You can’t help it. You are, in that moment, helpless.
When we first tasted Majken’s anise hyssop kombucha with Douglas fir and elderflower, in Aimsir Restaurant, we wrote that the drink “grants you access to an unforeseen world of flavours, textures and tastes.”
That’s the sort of over-the-top reaction you get from people who have just had an ayahuasca session deep in the Amazon jungle and are doing their darndest to put it into words. And, of course, we were not deep in the Amazon when we had the kombucha: we were in County Kildare.
Tasting the new Bæk drinks, in deepest West Cork, our notes again bled deep purple: “Simply not like anything else.” “Honestly extraordinary.” “Intense and involving.”
All that, whilst sober. Janey.
The two new drinks are Mellow – an alternative to white wine based on an artichoke and apple tea – and Intricate, a red wine alternative based on aronia berries. Both are distinguished by an exceptional mouth feel, with a long finish, just like a very fine wine.
We drank the Intricate with an Ottolenghi one-pot dish of tomato and aubergine baked pasta, but felt the drink really called for something with more umami: this is red meat territory, so approach it as you would approach the task of matching a good claret.
The Mellow is anything but mellow: it is a bombshell of delight, whilst also managing to be a shapeshifter, changing from sip to sip – like a great wine – delivering layers upon layers of provocative flavours.
Looks like we have to say, one more time, that the Mellow “grants you access to an unforeseen world of flavours, textures and tastes.”
Without travelling to the Amazon basin. Or even County Kildare.
Prices start at €25 for 500mls. For more information visit www.baek.is
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It is a true sign of the times. Eating, and more importantly, connecting with our food in this way has been commonplace throughout much of Europe and beyond. I have always questioned why it hasn’t taken hold here? Curious. The engagement with people this style of eating has is also really relevant to the current climate I think. So wonderful.
Another great set of feature articles, fantastic to see how dining is evolving around this small island. The notion of going out is being matched, if not overtaken, with the concept of enjoying great food when out, doing the shopping etc. Well done Patrick St.